Upper feed roll control means for typewriting and like machines



May 22, 1956 LEMOS 2,746,590

UPPER FEED ROLL CONTROL MEANS FOR TYPEWRITING AND THE LIKE MACHINESFiled Dec. 11, 1952 INVENTOR. MANUEL G. LEMOS BY film/94% ATTORNEYUnited States Patent UPPER FEED ROLL CONTROL MEANS FOR TYPE- WRITING ANDLIKE MACHINES Manuel G. Lemos, New York, N. Y., assignor to UnderwoodCorporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationDecember 11 1952, Serial No. 325,466

2 Claims. (Cl. 197-138) about the lower surface of a cylindrical platenand up i into typing position. In addition to the lower feed rolls it iscustomary to provide upper feed rolls to hold the paper in close contactwith the platen at a point beyond the printing point, so that at theprinting point the paper will lie close against the platen and so thatas the sheet is fed through the machine, the leading edge will bedirected along a rearward path and cannot bend over forwardly topossibly interfere with the typing operation.

It is customary when inserting a new sheet of paper into the machine torotate the platen by means of a knob provided for that purpose, in orderto feed the paper beneath the platen and up into typing position'and itis also customary to release the upper feed rolls from contact with theplaten while the paper is being inserted. After the paper is moved intotyping position, the upper feed rolls are restored to operative positiontohold the paper in close contact with the upper portion of the platen.It is an object of the present invention to provide means whereby in asingle operation the upper feed rolls may be released and the platenrotated to bring the paper into typing position.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means whereby anoperator in one motion of the hand may rotate the platen and operatemeans for releasing the upper feed rolls of a typewriting machine.

These and further objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more readily apparent as a description of apreferred embodiment thereof proceeds.

Referring now to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a platencarriage of a typewriting machine showing the upper feed rolls inoperative position and showing the means for moving said feed rolls totheir paper-inserting position,

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, showing the upper feed rolls inpaper-inserting position and also showing, in dot-and-dash lines, theupper feed rolls in the position to which they are moved when erasuresare to be made,

Figure 3 is a plan view showing how the means for releasing the upperfeed rolls and the means for rotating the platen may be simultaneouslyoperated, and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the upper feed rollsupporting and operating means.

A typewriter carriage is generally indicated at in Figure 1 and includesa pair of end plates 11, only one of which is shown, between which acylindrical platen 12 is mounted for rotation. The platen 12 is providedwith 2,746,590 Ce Patented May 22, 1956 a central shaft 13 mounted insuitable hearings in the end plates and a manually rotatable knob 14 isfixed to said shaft. Mounted on the carriage in any suitable manner arelower feed rolls 15 and suitable guides 16, so that when the paper isinserted at the rear of the platen, it may be fed beneath said platen bythe feed rolls and guided up to the printing point, which is slightlyabove the guide 16, as is well known. After the leading edge of thepaper reaches the printing point, the platen is rotated a little furtherto bring the paper into position for typing the first line. As the paperreaches the position for typing the first line, the upper edge is passedbeneath a set of upper feed rolls by means of which the paper at theprinting point is held in close contact with the platen, as willpresently be more fully explained.

A set of upper feed rolls is indicated at 17; said feed rolls beingmounted on a frame or bail structure including a rod 18 supported at itsends by a pair of rearwardlyextending arms 19, only one of which isshown. In the particular machine shown in the drawing, the arms 19 arepivotally mounted upon crank portions 20 of a rod 21 which is pivotallymounted at its ends in the end plates 11. A tab portion 22 of each arm19 is provided with detent notches 23 and 24 for cooperating with a bailportion 25 of a spring member 26, which spring mem bers are secured tothe crank portions of the shaft 21 in any suitable manner, as by fittinginto holes provided in said crank portion as illustrated particularly inFigure 4. With the feed roll bail in the position shown in Figure 1, thespring 26 cooperates with the detent notch 23 to re siliently hold saidbail in that position, with the rollers 17 pressing against the upperportion of the platen. When the feed roll bail is moved to its otherpositions the spring 26 cooperates with the detent notch 24.

A finger piece 27 is secured to a collar 28 loosely mounted on the shaft13. The collar 28 is provided with an opening 29 into which extends anarm 30 fixed to a stub shaft 31 pivotally mounted in the end plate 11.The arm 30 is located on the outside of the end plate 11 so that thefinger piece 27 may lie adjacent the platen knob 14, as shown in Figure3. Connected to the stub shaft 31 on the inside of the end plate 11 isan arm 32 to which is pivotally connected one end of a link 33, theother end of which is pivotally connected to the crank portion 20 of therod 21. The arm 32 is provided at its upper end with a bent-over slideportion 34 upon which the arm 19 is adapted to slide as the feed rollsare moved from paper-feeding to paper-inserting position.

It will be evident that, with this arrangement, when the finger piece 27is moved in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Figure 1 tothe position shown in Figure 2, the linkage including the arms 30 and 32and link 33 will swing the crank portion 20 of the rod 21 in acounterclockwise direction and move the arms 19 of the upper feed rollbail forwardly. During the forward movement of the arms 19, a cam plate35 provided on one of said arms slides over the top of the slide portion34 of the arm 32 to thereby cause the feed rolls 17 to move upwardly, sothat rocking of the finger piece 27 will result in positioning the feedrolls 17 in the position shown in full lines in Figure 2. If desired, aspring 36 may be provided between a pin 37 secured to the crank portion20 of the rod 21 and a suitable anchorage on the end plate 11. By properpositioning of the anchorage of the spring 36, such spring can be causedto move over the center of the rod 21 as the feed roll bail is movedfrom its Figure l to its Figure 2 position and vice versa, to aid inholding the bail in the desired position.

It will be apparent from Figure 1 that if a sheet of paper is insertedinto the machine with the upper feed rolls in their normal positionshown in that figure, the leading edge of the paper, after passingthrough the paper guide 16, will continue along a path tangent to thesurface of the platen and that such path will bring the edge of thepaperin front of thefeed rolls, making it necessary to manually directthe leading edge rearwardly so that it may enter between the upper feedrolls and the platen. From Figure 2 it will appear that if, before theleading edge of the paper is inserted into the machine, the upper feedrolls are moved to the position shown in that figure, the leading edgeof the paper will extend behind the feed rolls and that by merelypressing rearwardly on the bar 18, the feed roll bail will be moved backto bring the feed rolls into contact with the paper and press it againstthe surface of the platen. Thus, insertion of the paper into the machineis considerably facilitated if, before inserting the paper, the upperfeed rolls are moved from their normal Figure 1 position to their Figure2 position. Since the arms 19 are pivotally mounted on the crankportions 20, the feed roll bail may be swung upwardly into the dottedline position shown in Figure 2 when it is desired to make erasures.

By referring to Figure 3, it will be seen that the finger piece 27 islocated so closely adjacent the knob 14 that said finger piece and knobmay be simultaneously operated by a single digital member, for examplethe thumb, of the operator. Thus, when a sheet of paper is to beinserted into the machine, the operator grasps the knob 14, with thethumb positioned as indicated in dot-anddash lines in Figure 3, so thatas the knob 14 is rotated, the finger piece 27 will be rocked rearwardlyto move the upper feed rolls to paper-inserting position, as aboveexplained; thereby enabling a single motion of the hand to bring thepaper up through the lower feed rolls and into position between theupper feed rolls and the platen. If it is desired to rotate the platenwithout operating the upper feed rolls, the operator merely rotates theknob 14 without allowing the thumb to contact the finger piece 27. Whilethe invention has been illustrated asapplied to a typewriting machine,it will be understood that it is equally adaptable to other types ofbusiness machines such for example as adding and accounting machines.Having thus described a preferred embodiment of the invention, what isclaimed is:

1. In a typewriting or like machine, a rotatably mounted cylindricalplaten, a manually rotatable knob for rotating said platen, a set oflower teed rolls engaging the lower portion of said platen and servingto feed paper therearound when said platen is rotated, a set of upperfeed rolls movable from paper-feeding engagement with said platen to aposition off said platen wherein the leading edge of paper fed aroundthe lower portion of said platen will pass freely between said upperfeed rolls and said platen, a finger piece mounted closelyadjacent saidknob so that said finger piece and knob may be moved simultaneously by asingle digital member of an operator, and means operatively connectingsaid finger piece to said upper feed rolls so that movement of saidfinger piece moves said upper feed rolls to their position off saidplaten, said lower feed rolls remaining in engagement with said platenwhen said upper feed rolls are moved to their position off said platenwhereby in one operation paper may be fed beneath the platen and betweenthe platen and said upper feed rolls.

2. In a typewriting or like machine, a platen carriage comprising aframe having a pair of end plates, a cylindrical platen rotatablymounted in said end plates, a manally rotatable knob operativelyconnected to said platen and located outside said end plates, a set oflower feed rolls engaging the lower portion of said platen and servingto feed paper therearound when said platen is rotated, a set of upperfeed rolls, means mounting said upper feed rolls for movement from apaper-feeding position to a paper-inserting position, a finger piecemounted outside said end plates and closely adjacent said knob so thatsaid finger piece and said knob may be moved simultaneously by a singledigital member of an operator, and means operatively connecting saidfinger piece to the means mounting said upper feed rolls so thatmovement of said finger piece causes said upper feed rolls to be movedto paperinserting position, said lower feed rolls remaining inengagement with said platen during operation of said finger piece andsaid knob.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,496,876 Garbell June 10, 1924 1,840,817 Lear Ian. 12, 1932 1,916,371Helmond July 4, 1933

